Jackson career, CD give lackluster performance
Burson, Harry
Issue date: 3/20/08 Section: TruLife
Nipplegate doesn't seem to matter anymore.
When Justin Timberlake revealed Janet Jackson's right breast during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, we were shocked and outraged. Her bosom was to be the death knell for Western culture and Jackson's career.
Of course, it was neither. Beside the Federal Communications Commission throwing a fit with harsher fines and increased regulation, culture kept on trucking. Amazingly, society did not crumble at the sight of a woman's exposed breast.
The incident didn't do much to help Jackson's career. Claims of wardrobe malfunction aside, there's a distinct possibility the gaffe was a publicity stunt.
Only two months after the Super Bowl, Jackson began promoting her most sexually explicit album yet, "Damita Jo." The disc was an exploration of the singer's erotic side, a journey of discovery she apparently had been on for more than 10 years. The halftime show did nothing to generate interest, however, and Jackson's CD sales continued to decline.
On this album and its successor "Rhythm Nation 1814," Jackson cast herself as a strong, socially aware, independent woman with a sense of humor and occasionally soft, romantic side. These albums were enormous successes, selling over five million copies each in the United States.
On her last five albums, Jackson has used explicit material to varying degrees of success. Still, her album sales shrank to fewer than a million copies for her last album, the somewhat tame "20 Y.O." - the title a reference to the fact that the 40-year-old artist claimed to feel half her age.
"Discipline" is Jackson's 10th studio album and her first in more than 20 years not produced by Jam and Lewis. "Discipline" suggests an allusion to her breakthrough album but with a key difference in tone. While "Control" referred to Jackson asserting power over her life and career, in the titular track "Discipline" she begs her lover for sadomasochistic domination.
Jackson never has been much of a singer. Her thin soprano only has been serviceable thanks to her strong personality and ambition. Now, thanks to T-Pain and the wide acceptance of excessive computer voice manipulation, her voice is just another heavily processed instrument in the electronic Pro Tools sludge.
When Justin Timberlake revealed Janet Jackson's right breast during the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004, we were shocked and outraged. Her bosom was to be the death knell for Western culture and Jackson's career.
Of course, it was neither. Beside the Federal Communications Commission throwing a fit with harsher fines and increased regulation, culture kept on trucking. Amazingly, society did not crumble at the sight of a woman's exposed breast.
The incident didn't do much to help Jackson's career. Claims of wardrobe malfunction aside, there's a distinct possibility the gaffe was a publicity stunt.
Only two months after the Super Bowl, Jackson began promoting her most sexually explicit album yet, "Damita Jo." The disc was an exploration of the singer's erotic side, a journey of discovery she apparently had been on for more than 10 years. The halftime show did nothing to generate interest, however, and Jackson's CD sales continued to decline.
On this album and its successor "Rhythm Nation 1814," Jackson cast herself as a strong, socially aware, independent woman with a sense of humor and occasionally soft, romantic side. These albums were enormous successes, selling over five million copies each in the United States.
On her last five albums, Jackson has used explicit material to varying degrees of success. Still, her album sales shrank to fewer than a million copies for her last album, the somewhat tame "20 Y.O." - the title a reference to the fact that the 40-year-old artist claimed to feel half her age.
"Discipline" is Jackson's 10th studio album and her first in more than 20 years not produced by Jam and Lewis. "Discipline" suggests an allusion to her breakthrough album but with a key difference in tone. While "Control" referred to Jackson asserting power over her life and career, in the titular track "Discipline" she begs her lover for sadomasochistic domination.
Jackson never has been much of a singer. Her thin soprano only has been serviceable thanks to her strong personality and ambition. Now, thanks to T-Pain and the wide acceptance of excessive computer voice manipulation, her voice is just another heavily processed instrument in the electronic Pro Tools sludge.
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